About:
This notable Czech doc fest presents over 100 features in Prague before touring 36 other cities around the Czech Republic.

COUNTERS

The event features three competitive strands, including the Czech Competition, with Saša Dlouhý’s GOD FORSAKEN, which profiles refugees attempting to make a life in the Czech Republic; Barbora Chalupová’s A THEORY OF EQUALITY, about debates on gender and sexism in the nation; and Andran Abramjan’s EMPIRE BUILDERS, on the rise and fall of right-wing populist candidates in the country. The International Competition includes Thom Vander Beken’s I KNOW YOU ARE THERE, about a man in a near-unresponsive state following an accident; and Maasja Ooms’ ALICIA, which follows an increasingly frustrated girl in state foster care. Finally the Right to Know Competition offers work like Margarita Cadenas’ WOMEN OF THE VENEZUELAN CHAOS, about a diverse group of women facing their country’s many crises; Il-ha Lee’s COUNTERS, on Japanese activists who take on xenophobic nationalist groups; and Rikun Zhu’s ANNI, a portrait of a Chinese dissident’s daughter denied education because of her father’s political stance.

PEACE TO YOU ALL

Among the fest’s noncompetitive strands is Journeys to Freedom, focused on human rights, with offerings including: Juraj Mravec’s PEACE TO YOU ALL, which captures ordinary people in eastern Ukraine caught in a war zone; Stian Indrevoll’s MOLDOVAN MIRACLE, about the sole optometrist in Europe’s poorest nation; and Pieter-Jan Van Damme’s WE’RE GOING THE SAME WAY, which follows a Kyrgyzstani father and son forced to relocate for economic reasons. The Unearthed section takes on environmental issues, in films like Shirin Barghnavard’s POETS OF LIFE, about Iranian rice farmers who resist unsustainable practices; Petteri Saario’s ACTIVIST, on a 15-year-old Finnish Green Party city councilor who stands against local mining; and Yatri Niehaus’ STELLA POLARIS ULLORIARSUAQ, on the impact of climate change on Greenland’s ice sheet.

THE HATE DESTROYER

Additional sections include the European current affairs-focused Eurodrome, with Vincent Coen and Guillaume Vandenberghe’s NOTHING IS FORGIVEN, a profile of a Charlie Hebdo columnist in the aftermath of the terror attack; Beyond the Horizon, about distance, with films like Bart Goossens and Karen Vázquez Guadarrama’s WHEN THE BULL CRIED, about an impoverished Bolivian mining community, and Karna Sigurðardóttir’s 690 VOPNAFJÖRÐUR, a portrait of the dwindling population of a northern Icelandic village; and the celebratory portraits of Long Live Life!, which includes: Ruth Kaaserer’s GWENDOLYN, on a 65-year-old weightlifter and anthropologist; Christian Knorr’s SECOND HAND HEROES, focused on thrift stores; and Vincenzo Caruso’s THE HATE DESTROYER, about a retiree who spends her days removing hate speech graffiti around Berlin.